16ga.com ~ View topic

I was going to post something similar to the following but I'll let Col. Charles Askins do it instead...

"I certainly wouldn’t take a 16 in preference to a 20 where the weight must fall beneath six pounds; neither would I give the 12 preference to the 16 where the weight must be seven pounds or less—fact is, between six pounds and a quarter and seven, the 16 is king and can’t be improved upon.

Here is the way I should rate guns according to weight: Between 4 and 5-1/4 pounds, give preference to a 28; from 5-1/4 to 6-1/4, a 20; from 6-1/4 to 7, a 16; while the 12 will hold its own with a 10-bore up to 9 pounds."

Joined: 16 Dec 2009 Posts: 3

Here is my 5lb 7.5oz Browning Citori Feather Lightening. Have been carrying it for 10 years.

https://ibb.co/4prm1hD

Joined: 09 Aug 2007 Posts: 444 Location: WI

I have:

1927 A.H. Fox A Grade with 28" barrels and weighs in at 5 lbs 12.4 oz.

2010 Browning Superlight Feather with 28" barrels, Briley extended ported choke tubes, weighs in at 5 lbs 13.3 oz.

2019 Browning New Model Sweet 16, 28" barrel, weighs in at 5lbs 12.0 oz.

It has nice wood:

Before going to all the effort to customize my little Belgian boxlock, I thought I'd take it out on the opener and make sure I can hit with it. Got into a few chukar coveys and had a great time. Gun performed well, once I figured out what load to shoot in it. Missed a couple, then patterned it (I know, backwards Rolling Eyes

), and found out it really doesn't like spreaders, but loves factory 1oz 6's Herters loads. It was dialed in after that.

nj gsp,
Your 1927 Fox A grade is a fantastic old Grouse gun, with the modified Brown Rotary bolt, the gun will never ever wear out! Have fun hunting with her! A gun to be passed down thru the family for many generations.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Joined: 09 Aug 2007 Posts: 444 Location: WI

Grandma got it just to shoot crows in the garden in the late 1930's. She gave it to me over 30 years ago.

nj gsp,

Looks like Grandma knew good guns, and passed it on to you when it was time!

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Joined: 09 Aug 2007 Posts: 444 Location: WI

It was the gun that started my love of the 16 gauge. I think I have 8 or 9 of them now and except for trap league, it's all I use.

Joined: 12 Mar 2012 Posts: 685 Location: Ontario

So as noted earlier, HA Lindner was pretty good at making light guns when he wanted to. The Charles Dalys in this thread are examples. I was just handling two Lindner made 12 gauges that come in between 5 1/2 pounds and 5 3/4 pounds. But he's kind of the exception.

I was thinking about all the 16 SxS I've had over the years an the vast majority were between 6 pounds 5 oz and 6 pounds 10 oz. Not that I didn't like them or fussed about the weight, but they weren't light 16s.

Now I've added two new SxS to my arsenal recently. A Frelach made guild gun and a Greifelt. Very similar specs for these two guns. Made 2 years apart in 1923 and 1925, both scalloped boxlocks with 29" barrels. Both have sideclips, cocking indicators and cross bolts. But one is an ejector gun and one is an extractor gun. The guild gun is the ejector gun at 6 pounds 7 oz and the Greifelt is the extractort gun at 6 pounds 1 oz.

When I shoulder the Greifelt, my past history with 16 ga SxS tells me "This is a light gun".

[url=https://jamesroblin.smugmug.com/Firearms/Greifelt-Co/i-8dcR5Np/A]

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Member Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Posts: 1257 Location: Nebraska

I didn't buy the one light 16 I handled at a gun shop, a Belgian gun with very trim barrels and the one feature that almost had me buying it, a cross bolt. It felt almost too light and was probably just a few ounces under 6lbs. As it has turned out I've got 3 favorite guns, one each in 28ga, 20ga and 16ga, all within an ounce of 6lbs unloaded. Must be the sweet spot in my hands.

kgb,

Kirk hope all is well with you, your wife and the dogs! Like you the 6lb 16 gauge guns are pretty much my favorite guns. My buddy Galen was down from NY to hunt some Grouse on the 3rd week of Grouse season here in Pa. He had just purchased a G&H 12 gauge that weighed right at 5.9lbs, one beautiful 2 " Chambered Brit gun, with 25" Barrels. Very well balanced, one serious Grouse gun for sure, felt like one of my good 16 gauge L.C. Smith Grouse guns to carry. He purchased 2 cases of RST 2" shells from the man who sold him the gun, at the price the original owner pay for them years ago, smart move on his part. Says the RST shells will last him the rest of his Grouse hunting life.

hunt safe my friend,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Member Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Posts: 1257 Location: Nebraska

Dave, when I picked up the 20ga Ithaca M37 I shot it almost exclusively for a couple years. The 28ga is also an Ithaca M37, the 16ga versions are just that little bit too much bulkier. Not a huge difference, but just enough. For so many years I carried a 16ga Model 12, a gun that just feels like an extension of the arm, and these M37s are right up there with it. If I were to carry a 12ga I think I'd follow the example of Galen with a short chambered 12ga...and hope to luck into the shells for it.

Member Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 376 Location: North ID.

The lightest 16 I own is a 29.5 inch barreled, 5 lb 11 oz, N Guyot, French boxlock, with the next lightest being a German guild at 6.2 lbs.

Joined: 07 Jun 2020 Posts: 228

There is a simple trade off to achieve ultralight guns, the lighter you go the thinner the barrel walls and shorter the barrels get. While it matters where the thin spots are, most cannot live with thin walls regardless.

I had a German Round Action (trigger plate). It weighed 5lbs 5oz. The walls were thin around 22 thousandths in some spots. The butt stock was partially hollowed out too.

I cannot admit great comfort in shooting walls that thin with other than custom low pressure. In the end I got rid of it.

I have looked at 2inch 12ga guns with walls at 19 and 20 thousandths minimums, I cannot bring myself to do it.

I am not saying a 5.5 lb 16ga is unsafe to shoot, I have no doubt some light 16s have good walls, that said many will not and you have to have a good evaluation done by a competent gunsmith.

I did review my collection and find my lightest 16ga is a mint condition Jules Bury made with 27inch barrels at 5lbs 13.4oz. Original 2 3/4in chambers, barrels weigh as originally stamped.

Joined: 09 Aug 2007 Posts: 444 Location: WI

Density of the wood will have a significant effect on gun weight.

When comparing the weights of two Browning SLF 16's, one being my own 2010 gun and the other identical in every way except the second was made in 2014, the 2014 gun weighs in at just over 6 lbs, a full 1/4 lb more.

When I weighed individual parts, I found most of the additional weight in the 2014 gun is in the buttstock. Barrel weight was almost identical - within a few 100's of an ounce (with choke tubes removed).